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Friday, March 18, 2016

Wow, I know the Meet-Up that I am posting about here has been almost 4 weeks ago, at times I thought about not sharing about the day but, I AM going to finish & publish this post...

A Loss That Has Hit Hard

The week after I got back from the Meet-Up in Sacramento, I came home from school & went straight to bed every day...I thought I would post the next week & then we had tragedy strike our church youth group {I have a 12 & 16 year old} March 2, one of the boys got a blood infection & went into septic shock, we knew at lunch time that day he was being airlifted to Loma Linda, and received word around 4 that he had passed away...his twin sister Taylor celebrated her 16th birthday on March 9, one week after he went to heaven, today at our church we had a service that was a celebration of his life...the church was packed...Tyler was on the wrestling team, had been active in 4H, was a Police Explorer, active in our Youth Group & Youth Choir...in his almost 16 years on earth he had a powerful positive inpact on so many in our small community...at the end of the service our pastor shared that he frequently asks for the Bible of the person he is doing the service for...Tyler had a new Bible & at first our pastor didn't think there was anything in it, then he noticed that Tyler had written on the inside cover these 2 words~ BUT GOD the first verse that was shared was this 'But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me' Psalm 49:15...he shared 3 other verses, but that one was a goosebump moment for many...the family had river rock on the tables at the meal after & Sharpies...many rocks looked like this...

...all prayers for the family are greatly appreciated...Taylor gave me permission to share this collage she put on Instagram.

Also, since the Meet-Up report cards hit & I was focused on that for days...then, it felt too late & I just started to shut down...well, I am GOING to finish & post, I started this over a week ago...

Pacific Coast Teacher Meet-Up

So sorry I have been missing for a while...2 weeks ago {Now 4 weeks ago!} I had the MOST AMAZING TIME at the Pacific Coast Teacher Meet-Up!!! I had the MOST INCREDIBLE DAY!!!!!

The day began with us meeting up at the Capital steps. I was so excited to meet everyone & to get our special shirts!

The group had planned a photo scavenger hunt. A group of us quickly set off for Old Sacramento. There were 7 of us in our group. {Introducing them from left to right in the bottom right picture} Kelly from An Apple for the Teacher, is my first TpT friend that I met at the conference in 2014. I was so glad that she was at the meet up too! Mercedes from Surfing to Success was so much fun to be around! I met Caryn {she doesn't have a blog yet} on our walk from the Capital to Old Town. I wish that I remember how exactly our conversation began, what I do remember is that I was telling her how I had tried Periscope in the summer, set it aside once school began & then did a scope about a week earlier with 5 live viewers & 2 replays...CARYN WAS ONE OF THOSE 5 VIEWERS!! She was so SUPER supportive & encouraging...it made me realize if only ONE person reads this post or watches a Periscope it is NOT all for nothing...we don't know the impact it might have on that one person, on his/her classroom, on his/her staff...we just need to keep doing what we feel called to do & leave the results to God. {more about Periscope later}...Brittany from Kindergarten Love Story was also in our group & it was fun getting to know her too!...Amy does not yet have a TpT store or blog...I am so glad we had such a mix of experiences!...she is a 3rd grade teacher too, so it was fun to talk about our classroom experiences... I was really excited to meet Shelby from Wiggling Scholars...before the get together I had been exploring her blog a bit and I was so impressed with her knowledge about Growth Mindset {something I have been learning more about recently for my students AND MYSELF}...I thoroughly enjoyed having several chats with her throughout the day!

In the afternoon we all {approximately 80} met up at The Old Spaghetti Factory for several hours of food, giveaways, laughter, talking, & fun...above is our own Amy from TpT...really, seriously, her official job title is Director of Seller Happiness! Big smiles from me!! I had the pleasure of having a good conversation with her, it was my 4th time having the joy of meeting her.

I have watched Sheila Jane on Periscope and interacted with her online. It was a pleasure to meet her and talk in person. She is doing so much to help teachers all over the world hold tight to the joy and passion that brought them to teaching in the first place. She did several Periscopes at the meetup and she caught my story of me meeting one of my 5 Periscope viewers when I looked at the scope later, I saw that Mel Lloyd {whom I LOVE} from Graphics From the Pond said hi to me during the Periscope! So very exciting!!! On a scope after the get together Sheila Jane talked about meeting ME!!! :D I have now joined the Teach Happy Membership!

It was a VERY long drive home 8+ hours for me...around half way home, there was a section that was LINED with flowers...it may sound sappy, but it moved me to tears, the color, the beauty...need to stay thankful for every blessing of beauty & joy in my life!

I am looking forward to connecting online with everyone that I met and spent time with...I hope I get to see them again soon!!

Fraction Snowball Fight

Sheila Jane of Teach Happy gave a challenge at the beginning of last week to have a snowball fight, so my mind when crazy & I created a Fraction Snowball Fight for my classroom...the kids loved it and it is now available in my TpT store.

Special Guests!I wanted to show you pictures of our special visitors before the Community Biennial Dr. Seuss Birthday Party put on by Delta Kappa Gamma

Five Hundred Million

Our class read that in America we use 500,000,000 straws EACH DAY...it is so hard for us to wrap our brains around what that number means...so we went out to the playground and measured out the area 10,000,000 base ten blocks would take up, talked about it being as high as it was long for 100,000,000 & then measured out 5 lengths of it for 500,000,00! That's a lot of base ten blocks!! We discussed how straws, although hollow, are much bigger...the kids were really amazed!

Periscope Link Up

This Linky was actually done over a month ago, but I still wanted to link up. In July I blogged about Periscope...if you click on the image below it will take you to that post...when I tried Periscope this summer I didn't know about Katch yet...Katch allows you to save your Periscopes & share them, I have now done 3 scopes including the one I mentioned earlier, and you can see them here I am watching Periscopes again when I have a few moments & when battery life & data are good...I especially like Jen Jones from Hello Literacy & the iteachtvnetwork.

My first scope was about my classroom friends {puppets} & I have one on my newest friend, Ginny the Guinea.

Click on the PD in Your PJs image above to go to the link up and learn more about why you should watch & create Periscopes.